Just a few days ago my dad emailed me a photo of a praying mantis he spotted in his shade garden. As a child I remember finding these strange, fierce, yet oddly delicate creatures regularly, but upon seeing his photo I realized I hadn’t seen one in years. Apparently the universe was listening, because this one showed up in our living room yesterday! I took the opportunity for a quick macro photo shoot after relocating him to the rose of Sharon in our front yard.
What I learned: Whenever I photograph something new, I try to take the opportunity to learn about it. In this case I learned that we have several mantid species in this part of the country - Chinese, European, and Carolina. The Chinese and European mantids are non-native, as the names would suggest. The largest and most often seen Chinese mantis was accidentally introduced in the late 1800s, but the European mantis was probably intentionally brought here by gardeners to control pests. Unfortunately, like most of our attempts to meddle with nature, that plan has gone awry. The non-native mantids eat as many “good” insects as bad (although their presence is probably a minor issue relative to some of our more destructive tampering). I’m happy to report that this one, however, is our native Carolina mantis. The Carolina mantis is intermediate in size, about 2.5” long, with a mottled green or brown appearance. It was slender and very active, which tells me it is a male. Adult females are bigger and bulkier and cannot fly; definitely not the case with this one - he flew all over our living room before I caught him!